The vision is grand and ambitious, both in the big picture and in the details.

Providence becomes "a dynamic, regional arts market and center for creativity." Arts and crafts are woven into the fabric of the city, showcased in public spaces, in a public gallery and in private buildings. New galleries and performance venues thrive. Grants and business opportunities abound. Artists serve on city boards and have power and real influence.

In the future imagined by Creative Providence, the new blueprint for "arts, culture and creativity" unveiled last week, the marketing campaign with the trademark "P," the one that calls this the Creative Capital, is both perfectly appropriate and completely unnecessary.

But can it really happen? Will it?

Robert Leaver, of think tank New Commons, a key player in the plan's development, said at the unveiling, at the Hotel Providence, that some in the arts community were complaining the plan wasn't far-reaching enough, even though it's "a huge shift from where the city was."

Yet with a bullet point for just about everyone in the 42-page document, it may be overwhelming. And with Mayor David N. Cicilline admitting that in these "very difficult economic times," some goals may take up to five years to realize, perhaps it's a bit abstract.

So what is clear? One element that stands out — and for which the city is garnering praise – is that the Department of Art, Culture + Tourism, already unusual for its clout at City Hall, is being repositioned as a key player in economic policy-making and planning, as well as the leader in implementing the Creative Providence vision.

That change is one of 10 the mayor says can be made right away, or within the next 18 months (the remainder of his current term), even if funds are scarce. Cicilline also envisions immediate action to keep branding the city as a creative hub, strengthen arts education and the ties between schools and arts groups, expand arts-related job opportunities for youth, and continue to bring together artists and businesses, among other things.

Other goals, Leaver said, may be more elusive, and will be prioritized based on how long they might take to implement; the policy changes needed; the money, know-how, and logistics required.

The bottom line, however, is "if you're waiting for things to happen, you're going to have to make them happen," Leaver told the audience of artists, activists, and business leaders.

There are some optimists in the arts community.

Randall Rosenbaum, executive director of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, said the plan fits well with his organization's own recently completed strategy and is very practical in its focus on how the city can support and strengthen the creative sector.

The plan is also very inclusive, Rosenbaum noted, seeing nonprofit and for-profit entities, artists, and other creative professionals as interconnected. "I think it broadens the constituency, which is both politically and practically a good thing," he said.

Yet how broad that constituency really is remains to be seen. The plan makes a point of saying that the term "artist" is "inclusive of visual and performing artists, craftspeople, writers and editors, designers, entertainers, and more."

Hands across New England Providence may be the Creative Capital. But it is hardly the only community that has attempted to build a new economy on a foundation of laptops, paint brushes, and guitars.

Imagine there's no culture A Providence coalition of art organizations dubbed Culture Stops is calling for arts stoppages across the country on March 10 to model the potential effects of slashed government arts funding. Their slogan: "Witness a world devoid of creativity, imagination and thought."

George Kimball, 1943-2011 George Kimball, Phoenix sports editor (back when there was such a thing) for nearly 10 years, Boston Herald columnist for 25 more, and truly one of the great boxing writers of our time, passed away last week at his home in New York City. He was 67.

A friend in need For the last 15 years, Aliza Shapiro has been the heart and brains of Truth Serum Productions, the rabble-rousing outfit behind the irreverent TraniWreck cabaret.

Party supplies Original Plumbing, the New York–based quarterly lifestyle magazine and Web site for trans men and their friends, returns to the Midway this Friday for a queer/trans dance party featuring go-go boys, a photo booth, DJs D'hana and Justincredible, and a midnight performance by New England electropop act Nicky Click.

Urban Fest gets ugly It didn't take long for the largely suburban horde to erupt into a frenzy at the free outdoor concert, which was dubbed, somewhat ironically, the Boston Urban Music Fest (BUMF).

History bites Just a few months after the close of its upstairs neighbor, the Roma Cafe, the Bramhall Pub, long an institution in the West End, shut its doors two weeks ago. And while there's talk it may reopen after renovations, one thing is for sure: The 11-plus-year run of Jerks of Grass shows on Thursday nights, the longest-standing weekly gig in Portland, has come to an end.

SAVOR THESE URBAN (AND SUBURBAN) OASES | September 27, 2011 It's not a huge state, but Rhode Island, you may be realizing, is abuzz with activity. There's music, poetry, theater, gallery shows, social gatherings, and all sorts of events at the colleges.

REWRITING THE HISTORY OF CAPITALISM | March 30, 2011 Brown University president Ruth Simmons has made it hard to ignore the school's ties to slavery — and by extension, the ties of well-known Providence families.

GREENING THE KNOWLEDGE DISTRICT | March 09, 2011 Christopher Bull is on the engineering faculty at Brown University, but what he teaches is a vision. “We all bear some responsibility in the direction the world goes,” he says, “and we need to accept that responsibility and act on it.”

CATAPULTER WANTS YOU TO TRAVEL SMARTER | February 23, 2011 You’re headed to New York and you need to keep the trip as cheap as possible, but also want WiFi, so you can work. Or perhaps you’re due in Boston’s Back Bay area, ASAP, and you need the ride to be quick and direct, even if it costs a little extra.

AT RISD: 2X4S, TAPE, AND 'CO-HABITATION' | February 09, 2011 In photographs, it looks like a giant spider web. But up close, it's shiny and transparent under the golden light. It's big enough for a person to climb into and crawl through — or you can poke your head in from a hole underneath or on the sides.